It is a known fact that the population of India worship animals so it comes to no surprise to see a video of an elephant rescue popping once in a while.
What is surprising is the paradox between this and the fact that they still use animals in captivity for tourism and to drag logs.
Just this month in North-Eastern India, an elephant calf lost his mother and became stranded in the Deepor Beel lake in the Kamrup district.
We can clearly see the elephant struggling to keep his head outside of the water.
The forest officials and volunteers using boats and perseverance, succeeded to get the baby out of the reeds and to step into the forest.
The crowds cheered and the “National Disaster Response Force” says they are actively looking for the mother.
It is important to protect Asian elephants and increase their population.
The University of Sheffield UK and the the University of Turku in Finland have joined forces to increase the number of Asian elephants born in captivity.
In countries like India and Thailand, almost a third of elephants are in captivity not only for tourism but also to drag logs.
Last April, an episode of “The Amazing Race” made contestants ride Asian elephants across a river in Laos and started a controversy on human cruelty.
https://www.care2.com/causes/amazing-race-promotes-riding-elephants-to-its-millions-of-viewers.html
According to the show host, the Elephant Conservation Center is funded by ecotourism and in fact, a two year study published in 2017 by the World Animal Protection, who list the Elephant Conservation Centre among one having the best conditions for these animals.
And FYI, The controversy is about the fact that the center do no offer elephant rides. (I will let you decide what to think about this.)
It is important talk about animal cruelty in general so that in the long term the same organizations that offer the rides will have to provide better care for their animals.
Please spread the word and share.
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-future-elephants-captivity.html
